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The old thread got locked, so here's a new one. Sorry for the hijack RedEyedGhost.

I just finished the first season of House of Cards. It's one of those shows that I love to hate, reason being that there isn't a single character that I found myself rooting for at any point. Okay, I guess I didn't kind of root for Russo when he looked like he was getting his life back on track, but other than that all the characters are vile people.

I think I'll have a second go at season 4 of Arrested Development, I failed to finish it in my last attempt. The way they structured it is one of the reasons why.

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I've been catching up with a show from a few years ago, just finished watching the first season of Veronica Mars. I missed at the time it was first shown (although some of my friends did recommend it to me then) and was recently reminded of after it was recommended a couple of times during Galactus' Buffy rewatch thread (I can understand why it was mentioned there, while describing it as Buffy without the supernatural elements isn't quite accurate, it's got some truth to it).

I thought it was a very enjoyable show. I think they did a good job of slowly unravelling the season-long mystery behind Lily Kane's murder and it was a clever resolution which I didn't see coming but which made perfect sense and in retrospect there was a lot of foreshadowing leading towards it. By comparison the Veronica's-case-of-the-week episodes could often feel a bit lightweight but in some ways it worked well as a counterpoint to some of the darker aspects of the series, she does go through some pretty horrible things during the season so the show could have felt a bit grim without some of the more humorous moments. I thought the characterisation was strong throughout and I liked that some of the characters who appeared least interesting originally such as Logan or Weevil who initially seem to be shallow antagonists became much more interesting and more sympathetic during the season. Kirsten Bell did a great job as Veronica and although the range of things she's good at sometimes threatens to verge on being implausible I think they gave her enough flaws (lack of trust, tendency to jump to conclusions and perhaps a bit too fond of vengeance) to counteract some of that.

Most importantly, I also now know where one the board's most hypnotic animated avatars comes from.

I just finished the first season of House of Cards

I've been a bit tempted to start watching that, but I'm also perhaps more tempted to watch the original version first. I can remember a few bits of the BBC version from my parents watching it when it was first on and even if I wasn't really watching it properly then I can still remember Ian Richardson's performance.

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Watched All is Lost and enjoyed it. I can't recall a movie with less dialogue than this one. Loved the way they captured the last scene of the movie. That was just perfect.

It's been some time since I've seen Gravity but I didn't feel like it was comparable. The feeling of drifting off in space with the Earth as the backdrop makes you feel far more isolated and small than being lost in the ocean. The challenges Redford faced on his boat felt more primal and against the forces of nature rather than feeling helpless and needing to overcome these insurmountable obstacles. I think a boat, even one lost at sea, is a more familiar setting that many of us can relate to even if we are not active sailors. You know at least some of the things you need to do to survive -- gather fresh water, conserve food etc. Gravity had a more overwhelming feeling because I had no idea what I should do as a astronaut stranded in space or even an idea of where to begin.